Kelley asked Sebastien de Castell:

This question contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

Sebastien de Castell Hi Kelly,

Let me apologize in advance that my answer may not provide the clarity you're looking for as I'm not sure from your question whether you've read earlier books in the Greatcoats series and perhaps weren't satisfied by them? Or are you thinking of starting the series and just don't want to go all the way through only to have all the sympathetic female characters die?

If it's the latter, then I'll say that it's hard for me to imagine a credible series of novels in which all the sympathetic female characters end up dying and/or don't get their moments to shine. I'm sure it happens sometimes, but my editor, the redoubtable Jo Fletcher, would have cut my hands off before she'd allowed me to put out a series like that.

I try never to write a major character who doesn't get their moment to shine, but some characters – male and female – do die in the series. This is true of the final book as well. It happens less often than in, say, Game of Thrones, but probably as often as the latter half of Harry Potter series.

My best advice would be to take a look at the reviews of the series on Goodreads and let the impressions of fellow readers who have similar tastes guide you as to whether this series is right for you. I say this because of course each of us has our own sense of what's dramatic and meaningful versus salacious and crass.

Sorry I'm not more help!

Best,

Sebastien

flag